IT is appropriate that I sit typing this missive while looking out over a drenched Colne Valley.

As it has on most occasions in the past 12 months, the rain is hammering down over Slawit as I write this column.

It was no surprise to learn on Monday from Salendine Nook meteorologist Paul Stevens that 2012 was the wettest in Huddersfield since records began, with the town soaked by 54 inches of rain – nearly double the annual average of 30 inches.

The summer was particularly bad, with major events like Honley Show and Harden Moss sheepdog trials called off because of the constant drenching.

Many of my reporting memories of the past year have a rain-soaked theme to them, with my trusty Berghaus putting in the hard yards.

I remember covering the first of three nights of Concerts in the Park in June, where a few hundred determined Tykes turned out for a Bee Gees tribute in the hammering rain.

In the same month I went to the opening of a new play area in Lightcliffe where the wind and rain were so bad that a gazebo was blown over on top of a woman.

Nationally, there were many events hit by the constant rain, including the Diamond Jubilee flotilla which took place in a rapidly-rising Thames.

About the only time the downpour stopped all year was during the three weeks of the Olympics when the weather was, if not summery, at least bearable for the millions of spectators.

Is this incessant rain just something we’ll all have to get used to? Will we get to the stage where agricultural shows are called off more often than not and where Wimbledon regularly stretches into a third week?

Because, while 2012 was particularly wet, it was hardly a splash in the pan. There hasn’t been a hot, dry summer since 2006 – the year of the World Cup in Germany.

Since then every June, July and August have been wash-outs with bags of sand selling faster than bags of charcoal.

The future may well turn out to be significantly wetter than the past, posing the country many problems.

First and foremost, with a growing population on a small island, this is not the best time to find out that the floodplain may have to grow considerably.

Sixty-three million people and counting have to live somewhere. It may be that anyone with a home near a watercourse has to accept that once or twice a year they will be cowering in their bedrooms as the rainwater rushes through their front doors and destroys whatever possessions they haven’t managed to drag up the stairs.

And, because of the constant soaking, it could also be the case that many of the people trying to haul their TVs up to dry land are not in the best of shape.

Obesity, already a chunky challenge to the country’s health, could become an engorged emergency if the climate makes venturing outdoors unpleasant.

It’s much more difficult to persuade children of the merits of fresh air when that fresh air comes with a Biblical soaking. For adults, that 10-minute walk to the shops is fine when the sun is shining, but when the raindrops are bouncing off the pavement, it’s very easy to forget your own health and reach for the car keys.

Speaking of spending money, what effect would constant rain have on the economy?

Twelve million overseas visitors came to the UK this year, pumping nearly £19bn into the economy, a vital boost to hotels, restaurants, pubs, B&Bs and shops across the country.

Now it’s fair to say that few of those tourists came here for the weather. They will have been attracted by Britain’s countryside, culture and heritage rather than the promise of a balmy break.

But there’s a much better chance of repeat business if at least some of these tourists’ photos of their time in the UK show them smiling in the sunshine rather than cowering under their umbrellas.

This damp little island may well be looking at a future of rain-soaked, overweight poverty.

And on that upbeat note, I’d just like to wish you all a very happy new year – I hear the sun is due to come out for a few hours in May.